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John Pricci

HorseRaceInsider.com executive editor John Pricci has over three decades of experience as a thoroughbred racing public handicapper and was an award-winning journalist while at New York Newsday for 18 years.

John has covered 14 Kentucky Derbies and Preaknesses, all but three Breeders' Cups since its inception in 1984, and has seen all but two Belmont Stakes live since 1969.

Currently John is a contributing racing writer to MSNBC.com, an analyst on the Capital Off-Track Betting television network, and co-hosts numerous handicapping seminars. He resides in Saratoga Springs, New York.

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Thursday, May 28, 2009

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY, May 27, 2009--The news that jockey Jaime Theriot would appeal a 30-day suspension meted out by the Illinois Racing Board for his role in an accident that left Rene Douglas partially paralyzed in a Chicago hospital was inevitable.

Thirty days, as opposed to the usual seven given for careless riding. Is the larger penalty supposed to represent justice for an accident that barring a miracle has changed a man’s life forever?

Is 30 days enough if Theriot was careless to the point of recklessness? Is a thousand thirty days enough? If what the doctors fear is true, is it just that Theriot goes back to work at all?

Pity that any suspension was levied out without a full hearing. And had Theriot not filed an appeal, there would have been no hearing. Theriot would just have to live with the knowledge of his actions; Douglas would have to live with the consequences.

Does the longer suspension mean that Theriot was reckless when he sought running room with a raging mount? Or was he just race riding, just trying his best to win?

Three weeks ago, the sports world went gaga when Calvin Borel literally scraped paint in midstretch, squeezing tightly between a rival and the fence to win the Kentucky Derby.

What if, at the instant Borel threaded his mount between another rival and the fence, his rival lugged in? Mine That Bird might not be alive today, much less trying to win a second jewel. For that matter, neither might Borel and his dream of a personal trifecta.

Had there been a Derby incident, would Borel’s tactics been viewed as reckless? But get through he did, becoming a national sports hero courted by both Leno and Letterman.

Race riding is dangerous business. It’s why these underappreciated athletes earn big money--20 percent of them, anyway--while the rest labor in the shadows cast by the game’s stars simply trying to support themselves and their families.

Jockeys talk about the danger of the profession all the time and in the same fashion. They acknowledge danger as part of the business but they don’t think about it. If they did they wouldn’t be able to do the job.

A jockey’s livelihood demands split-second decisions and taking risks. You hear the apt quote regarding their job description all the time: Jockeys are the only athletes followed by an ambulance while they’re working.

A good point was made this week that what Theriot did is something that occurs many times every racing day. Horses get steadied and checked all the time, only this time it resulted in an accident.

The question remains: race-riding or recklessness?

Parenthetically, in New York right now, a relatively new jockey on the circuit has been so reckless that the rider was approached by a present and future Hall of Famer who proffered advice. Their attempt at a heads-up was summarily and rudely rejected.

The same sources informed HRI that the rider in question dangerously rail-rode Rajiv Maragh in a recent Belmont Park race. Hopefully, the stewards there will investigate the matter before something untoward occurs or a messenger is shot.

The 30-day suspension has pinned a guilty sign on Theriot’s back without benefit of a full investigation that goes with the appeals process.

If transparency truly existed and stewards were made to submit full written reports in the commission of their duties, all might have a better understanding of what happened last weekend and what punishment, if any, is appropriate.

Theriot’s career recently had taken off. No one knows what effect Saturday’s incident will have on his professional future. Or how living with the knowledge of what happened in the 2009 Arlington Matron Handicap will affect him personally.

Bumping incidents happen dozens of times a day, but the majority are ignored, no inquiry is posted, no objection lodged. No physical harm, no outcome altered, no foul. It never happened.

Just as racetrackers must admit when an otherwise sound horse takes a bad step resulting in tragedy that it’s part of the game, so, too, is what happened to Rene Douglas, only on a larger, human scale.

So it’s very important that people know whether Theriot was race riding or being reckless. Either way, the 30-day ban isn’t tough love and doesn’t send a message. Justice was not served by this ad hoc decision and neither was it good public relations.

There might be extenuating circumstances that makes sense of all this, but since there are no uniform standards, no mandated transparency, rule-makers will continue making things up as they go, even in an over-regulated industry.

Until the results of the hearing are known, the 30-day suspension by the Illinois Racing Board is the collective action of judge, jury and executioner before the fact. And how does that do anyone involved in this sad situation any good?

Great column John; enhancement of an excellent piece on Paulick. It all comes down to the people in the stand. Coa has been riding 3 paths for years; recklessly creating as much indecision and kickback as possible. Last year he put Johnny over the fence in Saratoga; result 0. Castro got 5 in the winter for 10x’s less; no continuity. Coa finally buried himself in the Cigar; long overdue. Rule: maintain path; anywhere, all the time, until clear by 2!. Int out of the lockups is every bit as bad as squeezing in the lane. AW’s with their no pace, bunched fields, jammed runners are a super minefield; the potential for multiple human and animal carnage endless.Please win this 1 Rene.

Can’t possibly know what it feels like to be in Theriot’s shoes, or to be lying in a bed like Douglas. I only know when I saw the accident live it gave me the usual pit in the stomach.
I was at Belmont Park when Ruffian broke down, Go for Wand happened right in front of me, and I was the analyst on the Harvey Pack show the day Mike Venezia never returned home to his family.
If no accident ever occurred, racetrackers are my heroes because, in the main, they do their jobs at 5:30 AM 24/7/365. And it’s not a job but a way of life. I would be good if Douglas’s docs had some stem cell knowledge to help them in this situation. The really sad part is that we know it probably won’t be the last time. Maybe it’s why this sport’s fans are so loyal to the game. We know these are special people who put themselves in harm’s way sometimes just because they love what they’re doing.
Like you said Doug: Please win this 1 Rene.

John,
I mentioned in response to Bill Christine’s column, that “rough” race riding is commonplace in turf races, because the fields tend to bunch up in the stretch. Was Theroit reckless? No more than numerous other jockeys have been in similiar type races. Obviously the end result in this case was tragic. Which no doubt is the reason the stewards reacted the way they did, otherwise, I’m sure they would have handed out a lesser penalty.

Mike’s death was 1 of mankind’s great losses; there are no worthy words. If Jamie’s suspension results in even 1 less Rene, something will have been gained. The people in the stand must be accountable. Hockey players would probably use sickles w/o regulatory. Rene, Jamie, every single 1 of these guys, the horses too, lay it all down every day in the most unimagineable way. In the end, the stewards, the skills of their competitors, the gate crews are all that they have.

Good points all around, John. Just to underscore the inequity of the punishment, on the same day that Douglas went down, Mike Luark, a jockey at Lincoln, was injured in a spill, and Jose Ranilla, who was ruled responsible in the incident, was given a six-day suspension. Luark broke a vertebra and will be out up to year. A centimeter here or there and Luark could have been facing a fate similar to Douglas’s, or worse.
Unless there is a preponderance of evidence that actions by a jockey on the racetrack were of a premeditated or malicious intent, there should be set rules for the dispensing of penalties. In this instance, it appears that Theriot has been victimized by sentiment, as warranted as it may be.

Douglas,
Turf races at a distance typically have a very slow pace which causes fields to bunch, thus creating traffic problems. You see it everyday. So how will the severity of Theroit’s suspension change anything?
Will jockeys loaded with horse suddenly not try to find a hole, force their way out....??
I kinda doubt it.

Decent point Eddie. The top riders are also, obviously, super competitive by nature. Makes for a whole buch of things that can happen in a very brief moment in time. Nevertheless, officials can do their part by imparting consistentcy to a set of common sense regulations and penalizing violators meaningfully. Everyone out there understands what is going on and what they might be able to get away with. Do not see where the same can be said about the judges. Remunerated people in places like CA, specifically, are consistently not doing the job they are getting paid to do, protecting the people whose lives are in their hands.

Great point about the California Stewards, Doug.
They base their decisions on whether the order of finish was effected. So you can practically put a horse over the fence and as long as that horse was tiring, you won’t be DQ’d. And I’ve seen them leave horses up, where the rider certainly created a dangerous situation.

I’ve come to appreciate Theroit’s rides this year and
normally I don’t reach out for a rider not on the NY
or California circuit. Douglas has always been a good
journeyman & the event was tragic but Theroit did nothing that isn’t done everyday and I feel his being cast as the villan is a hometown decision attempting to undo what fate has done. My prayers go out to both men as I remember the injuries suffered by Mig, Mike Smith, Jorge Chavez,& Rudy Baez. Racing
is not for those who do not want to tempt fate. It’s
for men & women w/courage.

I think we all have to be wise about how we judge, especially those of us who have friends and/or family who are jockeys, or who are close to the racing industry. Jockeys have to make split second decisions and often, they are successful and no one gets hurt. The rest of the time, we have to remember that no one is doing this intentionally.

I’ve seen some dangerous rides in California and New York, etc. that only warranted a “talking to” by the stewards to the jockey. I’ve seen other penalties be much tougher at tracks elsewhere. This is the worst suspension I can recall.

I’ve seen dangerous rides by young,upcoming jockeys, as well as by older journeymen. There seems to be no equity, but a lot of quick judgement these days.

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